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Tony Ferguson (13-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) now has his third scheduled opponent for UFC on FOX 3.
UFC officials today announced that Thiago Tavares, who replaced an injured Dennis Hallman, has also withdrawn from the card.
In his place steps "The Ultimate Fighter 12" finalist Michael Johnson (10-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC), who now meets Ferguson on the UFC on FOX 3 preliminary card.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is putting together a featherweight contest pitting Ross Pearson vs. Cub Swanson for the upcoming UFC on FX 4 network television event, tentatively scheduled for the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ, on Sat., June 12, 2012.
ESPN.co.uk brought word of the pending match-up earlier today.
After dropping two out of three fights at lightweight, Pearson (13-5) shed some skin and tried his luck in the 145-pound division. His first test against Raphael Assuncao proved to be a difficult one, but one he passed via gritty unanimous decision win at UFC 141 last December.
Swanson (16-5) also got back into the win column after losing two of three. The Greg Jackson disciple and former WEC combatant polished off George Roop at the UFC on FOX 2 event earlier this year. Can he string together two consecutive wins for the first time in almost four years?

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight kingpin Cain Velasquez is trying to keep it real.
Booked for a rebound fight against Frank Mir at the UFC 146 pay-per-view (PPV) event from the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 26, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Velasquez is hoping to erase the memories of a disastrous performance against Junior dos Santos at the inaugural UFC on FOX event late last year.
"Cigano" knocked him silly in just 64 seconds.
It was a performance that left him "unhappy." Not only did he fail to retain his 265-pound crown, but Velasquez also regrets not being able to deliver the kind of fight fans were hoping to see.
Those comments (via Yahoo! Sports) and more, after the jump.
"I'm a realist. I knew I wasn't going to go through my career undefeated. That's how this sport is. People lose. Even the best guys lose. I knew as soon as it was over, I had to pick myself back up and keep going forward. I do have some extra motivation now, for sure, but I wish that for that night things had gone differently and that the fans had gotten the fight they came to see. Ultimately, I let myself down. I don't ever want that to happen, and not for Fox or anything else. I want to go out there and win. Stuff happens. I get that, but I definitely wasn't happy with my performance. What it comes down to it, I don't want to be in that position again."

"We've got 375 guys under contract," White said. "We're doing a zillion fights a year, traveling all over the world, all these other things that we're doing. Now, you really think that we can crack down and [expletive] chase these guys around everywhere they live all over the world and just randomly test these guys all the time?"

UFC lightweights Joe Lauzon (21-7) and Terry Etim (15-4) have reportedly agreed to meet this coming August on the UFC on FOX 4 card.
News of the matchup was announced by Fighters Only on Wednesday, noting that both verbal agreements are in place between the two.
UFC on FOX 4 is expected to take place on August 4, 2012 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It’s likely that this match will end up on the night’s preliminary card, possibly headlining the undercard before the FOX broadcast.

If the judges’ scorecards had been counted correctly and the UFC flyweight tournament bout between Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson had gone to a “sudden victory” fourth round, McCall believes he would have finished his opponent.
As evidence, he points to a strong third round in the March 3 matchup. McCall slammed Johnson in that final period, took his back, mounted him and landed heavy punches and elbows.
“I think I was close to putting him away in the third,” McCall told the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show.” “I think I would have put him away.”
He didn’t get the chance, though. Due to the tabulation error, the fight was ruled a majority decision for Johnson after the third round. Later it was changed to a majority draw, but McCall doesn’t think that was right either.
“I thought I won, but I got a weird, weird, sick feeling that I wasn’t going to win,” McCall said. “At first when I stood up, I was like, ‘I won the fight. I won the fight,’ and then when the ref grabbed my hand, I felt like I didn’t win. I felt like I did win, but I wasn’t going to get the decision.”

Ramsey Nijem (5-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) welcomes promotional newcomer C.J. Keith (8-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) to the octagon on June 22.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has confirmed with sources close to the event that verbal agreements are in place for the UFC on FX 4, and contracts are expected shortly.
The lightweight matchup was first reported by MMAWeekly.com.
UFC on FX 4 takes place June 22 in Atlantic City, N.J., likely at the new Revel Atlantic City resort, with a Clay Guida vs. Gray Maynard headliner.

According to a report on FUEL TV's UFC Tonight Tuesday, former UFC welterweight title challenger Jake Shields is moving up to the 185-pound division later this year.
The Californian is no stranger to middleweight though, having won a Strikeforce title there, and among his victims in the division are Dan Henderson Jason Miller, and Robbie Lawler. Shields is coming off a UFC 144 win over Yoshihiro Akiyama in February.

The Heavyweight fighters who participated at today's (March 27, 2012) UFC 146 press conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, got a little bit more than they bargained for at the conclusion of the promotional festivities.
According to MMA Fighting, Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) director, Keith Kizer, administered a random drug test on all fighters in attendance, which included Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson and Antonio Silva.
"We brought the drug test to them instead of making them go to the drug test. If they were not in Las Vegas, I would need to find them a lab, which is of course, much more of a hassle."
Random indeed.

In another devastating blow, former Strikeforce champ Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal has been released from his Strikeforce contract.
UFC president Dana White today confirmed the news to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) but declined to comment on the release.
Following a nine-month suspension issued today by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Lawal lashed out on Twitter, which led to his ouster.

Heavyweight mixed martial artist Alistair Overeem was sentenced to 50 hours of community service Tuesday stemming from a Jan. 2 incident in which he allegedly pushed a woman at a Las Vegas nightclub.
Additionally, Overeem must attend anger-management counseling and stay out of trouble for 90 days. Failure to comply could result in a 90-day jail sentence.

Court McGee will get a shot at redemption.
McGee (13-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) will fight fellow middleweight Nick Ring (12-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at this summer's UFC 149 event, sources close to the show today confirmed with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
The fighters first met in an opening round matchup on "TUF 11" that Ring won via hotly contested majority decision. However, McGee later won the reality-show tournament when he got a second life with an injury-replacement slot.
UFC 149 takes place July 21 at the 19,000-seat Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo headlines against an opponent to be announced.
UFC 149's main card airs on pay-per-view, and FX and Facebook are expected to carry the prelims. It's not clear where McGee vs. Ring will end up on the lineup.

The quickly filling UFC on FX 3 card has another addition.
Seth Baczynski (15-6 MMA, 2-1 UFC) today told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) he's agreed to fight fellow welterweight Lance Benoist (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at the event.
UFC officials haven't formally announced the bout, which takes place June 8.
No host city or venue are set for the event, which is part of the Harley-Davidson Hometown Throwdown promotion, in which fight fans vote on the location. Regardless, the event's main card airs on FX, and FUEL TV and Facebook are expected to carry the prelims.
It's not clear where Baczynski vs. Benoist will end up on the lineup.

The UFC officially announced on Monday that Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen 2 will take place June 23 in Rio de Janeiro. However, according to Sonnen, nothing is official just yet.
"My demand has not been met," Sonnen told MMAFighting.com when asked for a comment on the rematch. "I've signed nothing."
Sonnen's manager Mike Roberts also confirmed that Sonnen has yet to sign a bout agreement, but it appears as though that is just a formality at this point.
As for what his demand is, Sonnen only said, "it's coming."

“Dear Tim Sylvia, shut the hell up, win fights and stop begging, it’s (expletive) annoying!”
~ Patrick Cote via Twitter.
Patrick Cote wants to get back to the UFC, and he’s made no bones about that in past interviews, but there’s one thing he wants to make clear: he’s not going to beg for the UFC to take him back via Twitter, Facebook, or any other social network.
Cote’s anger at the tactic erupted via his own Twitter account, but he promises it wasn’t necessarily targeted at Sylvia.
Cote was targeting any former UFC fighter that was going the social networking route as opposed to fighting to get back to the Octagon.
“Maybe that was a little bit out of control because that wasn’t a personal attack to Tim Sylvia, but that was just begging to have a chance to go back to the UFC, for me, it’s just a shame. You can’t beg the big organizations like that,” said Cote.
“You’ve been a champion in this organization; you know how things work. You’re not going to go anywhere by begging like that. I was just annoyed about begging, a lot of the begging, and I said loud what a lot of people was thinking. I have nothing against Sylvia. He’s been a great champion. He did a lot in the sport. He did a lot in the UFC. I hope he’s going to be back in the UFC. That’s not the point. The point was just about the begging thing.”
“The only thing you have to do is shut your mouth, win fights, and prove you deserve to be back in the big show by winning fights and by your performance,” Cote stated.
“It’s the only way to get back. You have to prove yourself again to deserve the chance to get back in the big show; that’s what I’m doing.”

We finally know when Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen will make sweet violence to one another for a second time: It'll be June 23 in Rio de Janeiro.
Sonnen likely won't be well-received by the fans there. That's what happens when you spend two years badmouthing an entire country and their most beloved fighter. But another UFC fighter says he's not too keen on fighting in Brazil either.
Frank Mir explained his viewpoint while talking to CraveOnline:

Top Middleweight contender Mark Munoz, who was last seen in action defeating Chris Leben in November, discusses the injury that forced him out of UFC on Fox 2, as well as who he would like to fight upon his return. Munoz also responds to recent remarks made by Michael Bisping, and shares his thoughts on a potential match-up with the Brit

In July 2011, just before his scheduled fight at UFC 133, Rich Franklin was of the mindset that his time at middleweight was over.
“The UFC has basically told me that they’re not interested in having me fight at 185 anymore,” Franklin said in an interview with MMAWeekly.com. “Which is the only reason I made the move to 205 in the first place.”
Fast forward to March 2012 after Franklin had shoulder surgery that kept him out of fighting for the remainder of 2011, and it was announced that he would face former Strikeforce champion Cung Le at UFC 148.
The biggest surprise about that fight of course is that it’s taking place at middleweight.
So what changed over these last several months that brought Frankling back down to 185 pounds?

Two months after losing the most important matchup of his young career, Phil Davis is picking up the pieces and focusing on the future. Davis, who is currently in Las Vegas as one of Dominick Cruz's assistant coaches on the current edition of TUF: Live, hasn't yet thought about when he'll find his way back into the octagon, only about bringing a newer, better version of himself to his next performance.
On a Monday interview on The MMA Hour, the light-heavyweight admitted that the tension involved with the huge spotlight may have gotten to him and affected his performance.
While that led to a loss, Davis is choosing to look at the bright side, which is the opportunity to look back at his performance and address his shortcomings.